The Speaker:

MEMBERS' STATEMENTS AND NOTICES OF MOTION

Introduction
The Rules Committee, at its meeting on 14 August 2002, agreed to operationalise the Rule on members' statements (Rule 105), with amendments as required. The Chief Whips' Forum was requested to agree on the wording of the Rule and to propose implementation guidelines for members statements and notices of motion, which would be restored for their specific purpose of enabling members to initiate business for consideration or decision by the House where that was the express intention.

In its report to the Programme Committee on 14 November 2002, the Chief Whips' Forum presented guidelines for members' statements and for notices of motion, and proposed that -
- members' statements be introduced for a trial period, commencing with the first term of 2003;
- the process be monitored in terms of the identified objectives by a small committee of the Chief Whips' Forum; and
- following a final review at the end of the first term, the Rule be appropriately adjusted and put to the House for adoption.

These proposals were approved by the Programme Committee and it agreed that the guidelines would be published in the ATC for members' information.

Implementation of members' statements
1. The order of party rotation will be the same as the current order of rotation for notices of motion. That order is: ANC; DP; IFP; ANC; New NP; UDM; ANC; smaller party; smaller party, ANC, DP, etc.

2. The sequence will start at the beginning on each day that members' statements are made.

3. Notices of motion and motions without notice will be called for daily at the start of proceedings, except for question days when they are taken at the conclusion of questions. They will be followed by members' statements on the days on which members' statements are made.

4. The actual amount of time allocated to members' statements is as follows:
a. Fourteen (14) members' statements will be accommodated at 1½ minutes per statement.
b. A maximum of five (5) Ministers will be given an opportunity to respond for 2 minutes each. The opportunity for Ministers to respond will follow after the expiry of members' time.

5. Statements will regularly be taken on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on Fridays when the House sits on a Friday. On certain days members' statements can be dispensed with by agreement in the Programme Committee.

Guidelines on members' statements
1. Members' statements may cover any subject which a member wishes to raise relevant to the national sphere of government, including topical international and national issues and constituents' matters.

2. The normal rules of debate apply, including -
a. Unparliamentary language.
b. Sub judice rule.
c. Reflections on judges and other specified public office-bearers (Rule 66).
d. Allegations against other members require a substantive motion.

3. Statements need not be submitted in writing and are recorded in Hansard.

4. As with speeches, a member's statement is concluded when his/her time expires.

Restoring notices of motion
1. The Rules provide for two types of motion to come before the House:
a. Subjects for discussion (debate only).
b. Draft resolutions for consideration (decision with or without debate).

2. Most motions require advance notice, except for a few formal ones for which the Rules specifically provide.

3. To restore notices of motion to their original purpose, they will be required to comply with agreed guidelines or criteria, as set out below.

4. The Rules provide an additional safeguard in that they provide that the Speaker may amend or otherwise deal with any notice of motion which offends against the practice or these Rules (Rule 100).

Guidelines for notices of motion
1. Notices of motion should be limited to matters which members specifically intend should be brought before the House for debate or decision.

2. Notice can be given verbally in the House or in writing.

3. Subjects for discussion
The wording of a subject for discussion should be limited to identifying the topic. The topic should be clearly established. The wording determines the scope and focus of the debate. A topic that is too vague or broad will lead to an unstructured general debate.

4. Draft resolutions
Generally, draft resolutions should be short and succinct and framed so as to express with as much clarity as possible the distinct opinion or decision of the House.

5. A draft resolution must deal with matters within the competence of the National Assembly.

6. It should deal with only one substantive matter.

7. It must consist of a clear and succinct proposed resolution or order of the House. Any extraneous matter meant to motivate a decision should be omitted, and can be put forward when the member introduces the motion in the House.

8. It must not contain statements, quotations or other matters not strictly necessary to make the proposed resolution or order intelligible.

9. The Rule of Anticipation will apply. A notice of motion on the Order Paper on a particular topic will therefore block all other notices on substantively the same topic.

10. It may not be the same in substance as a draft resolution that has been approved or rejected during the same session (Rule 95).

11. It may not contain unbecoming or offensive expressions.

12. It may not issue an instruction to the executive.

13. It should observe the principles of co-operative government (Chapter 3 of the Constitution).

14. A signed written copy must be handed to the Table immediately after notice has been given in the House.

Scheduling motions in the programme
1. Notices of motion, once given, are printed on the Order Paper under "Further Business." The Programme Committee considers all business on the Order Paper and decides which business to schedule. Parties can therefore seek to have a notice of motion scheduled through their party representatives on that committee.

2. The Chief Whips' Forum provides a further opportunity for parties to canvass support to have a notice of motion scheduled by the Programme Committee.